The Simpsons: Hit
The following document aims to outline the prerelease coverage of The Simpsons: Hit & Run and the changes made to it during late development. Announcement The earliest report of a "mission-based driving game" starring the Simpsons can be traced back to a brief article published by GameSpot on April 24, 2003. Not many details are revealed aside from the cast, the gist of gameplay and the platforms it will be released on. Given the short length and the "As part of its release of pre-E3 information ..." portion of the text, it is likely that this information was simply relayed from a press release document. Press Exhibition Hit & Run would later make an appearance at E3 2003, running from May 12 to 14, within the vast portfolio of then upcoming games from its publisher, Vivendi Universal. Not much else is known about the state of the game at this stage. A GameSpot feature from July 8, 2003 allegedly describes a GameCube build of the game showcased at a non-descript press event from Nintendo. The demo featured appears to have been limited to the first three missions of the first level, which seem to be unchanged from the final product. It is suggested that gameplay elements and interactions appear to have been finalized, although camera issues are present. Previews A significant number of publications were granted access to late builds of the game since E3 and until September for previewing purposes. Contents have been sorted by outlet chronologically. IGN (May 2003) Sizzle Reel The first footage released to the public was a Sizzle Reel made from the GameCube version published by IGN on May 15, 2003 shortly after its appearance at E3. The video itself depicts driving and minimal character control within the first, sixth, fourth and second levels, starring Homer, Bart and Marge respectively. Despite lacking sound, a handful of aesthetic differences can be noticed when compared to the final product. * A green radar is in place of the transparent minimap and the "Hit & Run" meter. The textures can still be found in early copies of the Windows version. * The unused Station Wagon found in the files of the game can be seen driving past Homer in Level 1. It is shown in place of the Glass Truck found in the final game. * Stop signs cannot be destroyed, but can be rather pushed as a single entity. * Light blue chevrons can be seen highlighting Marge's vehicular path instead of the usual red and green arrows. * The phone booth has a 2D sprite of a telephone on top instead of a rotating 3D model. In addition to this, they are in different locations: ** The booth that is situated in front of the house facing the Simpsons House in Level 4 is to the left of the house rather than in front. ** The booth outside the stadium in Level 2 is a lot further to the left beside the large concrete block with the statue in the stadium's corner. ** The booth at the gas station in Level 6 is situated at the station next to the fuel dispensers instead of across the road from there. * The phone booth situated in front of the cemetery entrance in Levels 1 and 4 is missing. * The evergreen trees in Levels 1 and 4 look more cartoon-styled and less detailed than they are in the final. * There is seemingly no indication whether the player is about to get a "Hit & Run". * There appears to be a collector card on top of the Wiggum house in Level 1, as seen at the very start of the video. But in the final game, the rooftop of Wiggum's house is inaccessible as is most rooftops in the level. * The light cone of the street lights in Level 6 appear to be at an angle, as opposed to facing straight down. * The street lights in Level 4 haven't got their lights switched on. * The sky in Level 2 appears cloudy. * The sky in Level 6 is darker and features more visible scrolling clouds. * Environment maps appear to be more subtle, or not implemented yet. This gives the cars a rather more cartoonish look. * The grass texture appears to be a brighter shade of green compared to the final. * There is a gate shown in front of the house facing the Simpsons House that does not appear in the final game. This same gate can also be noticed in the E3 Demo and in one of the screenshots in the game's PlayStation 2 manual. * The color of the chimney at Flanders' house is white rather than pink. Level 7 Screenshot In addition, a batch of screenshots were submitted to the game's PlayStation 2 hub on the site on May 6, 2003. While most of them are HUD-less captures which are very similar to the final game, a particularly intriguing one is present, depicting Homer in front of the Springfield Elementary School on a vastly different rendition of the seventh level. * A completely different radar/minimap can be seen. The texture for the blue circle is still present in early copies of the retail Windows release. * The building itself is textured with more varied colors instead of the mostly light-brown and yellow palette used in the final. * The sign above the door leading into the school interior says "Springfield Elementary" instead of "Springwarts School of Magicry". * The school flag is purple-tinted with yellow spots as opposed to red and white. * Ralph Wiggum can be seen stood in front of the school sporting what is presumed to be an early street race icon above his head indicating that he along with Milhouse and Nelson were to reprise their roles as street race hosts, but were all replaced by zombies to fit in with the whole Halloween aesthetic of the level. * While it can't be seen in the screenshot, the illustration on the minimap suggests that the rich side was originally accessible in Level 7. This can be hinted at by several of the game's unused content. * The Springfield Downs advert from Levels 2 and 5 can be seen on the billboard at the Grocery Store. In the final game, the billboard shows a "KZMB All Zombie Radio" advert instead. * The grass is brighter than it appears in the final. * The trees in front of the school use the early evergreen tree models from Levels 1 and 4 instead of Level 7's dying trees. * The sky is darker and cloudier, and has a greenish tone to it unlike in-game. The Next Level Dated July 7, 2003, Next Level's preview of Hit & Run for the PlayStation 2 features a handful of early screenshots. While it details the game's storyline, the remainder of the article is just a paraphrasing the announcement press release. Most of the imagery included is not of much interest except for the first snapshot, which has Bart standing on one of the second level's setpieces alongside the early radar seen in the previous video. Interestingly, at least three out of six pictures can be found on IGN's page for the game, suggesting that they may have been provided by the publisher. E3 Demo An E3 demo gameplay video shows a mostly complete version of the game, although with a few noticeable changes from the final game: * Much like in the IGN video, environment maps don't seem to have been implemented yet. In addition, there doesn't seem to be any lens flare effects from the sun in the first three levels. * The unused Station Wagon found in the files of the game can be seen driving past Homer in Level 1. It is shown in place of the Glass Truck found in the final game. * It is shown that originally, pedestrians could walk across roads, but in the final game they never do so in any level, it is unknown why this became cut. * The Duff Truck at the Kwik-E-Mart lacks detail and the vent on top does not produce any smoke, and the sound effect heard when bouncing off of it sounds different compared to the final game. Homer does not say any of his usual quotes, such as "Wheee!!" or "Bouncy bouncy!!" when he bounces off of the vent either. * The telephones seen on top of phone booths look different and seem to slightly resemble the 2D sprite of the telephone shown on top of phone booths in the prerelease video released on Sizzle Reel. * Much like in early cutscenes and screenshots, the characters' models are similar to their appearances in The Simpsons: Road Rage. * Wrenches have a darker brownish color scheme. * A lot of sound effects heard in the trailer sound very different compared to how they sound in the final game, such as sounds heard when jumping, kicking objects, etc. * There were originally sound effects for entering and exiting a vehicle, but in the final game, no sounds can be heard at all. * Collector Cards appear to have a question mark symbol on them. * Wasp Cameras are not as detailed and appear to be brighter. They lack the metal texture they have in the final game. In addition, their wings are not opaque, and no electricity can be seen from their stinger. * A ramp made out of tires can be seen south of the Tire Fire that doesn't appear in the final game, likely because the ramp is facing at an angle too close to the barn house. * A wrench can be seen floating above the Tire Fire in Level 1. * The lamp-posts on the street dividers near the Bowlarama in Level 6 had an entirely different design. * In Level 1, Milhouse is shown stood on the path in front of the first house in the line of houses in-between the La Maison Derriére and the Kwik-E-Mart, but in the final game, his position has been relocated to near Moe's house. * In Level 4, Nelson is shown stood in front of the Springfield church, but in the final game, his position has been relocated to in front of the Solid Gold House on the 939 district. * The sky in Level 2 is cloudier and has rays of light shining down from the sky. This background is used in the Level 2 bonus race track in the final game however. * The sky in Level 6 has a larger moon with more noticeable clouds, and the maroon colour is less vibrant than it is in the final. Interestingly, this background is used in the window textures of interiors in the level in the final game and in the level's bonus race track. * Moving cubes can be seen inside the power plant in Level 1. They can also be spotted in the demo that plays on the loading screen in the final game. * The power couplings do not have animations and stay simply static. * The Character Costumes icon in Moe's Tavern is to the right of the tavern in front of the Duff poster instead of to the left behind the pool table. * The window texture for the observatory in Level 6 has an image of a dusk sky background from Level 3 instead of Level 6's night one. The large telescope is also missing detail and is coloured red instead of grey. * As in the IGN video, there is a gate shown in front of the house facing the Simpsons House. * The backyard of the blue house to the left of the Simpsons House has a fence positioned in front of it separating it from the main house. * The phone booth situated on top of the hill going down from the gas station to the Aztec Theater in Level 6 appears to be missing. The phone booth situated in front of the ramp at Mr. Burns' Casino is also in front of the casino itself. * The Itchy balloon in Level 2 has red gloves instead of white. This early model can be seen in the Level 5 bonus race track in the final game however. * Snake can be seen driving his Bandit in Level 2 despite that in the final game, characters will only appear driving their vehicles in levels that they do not make an appearance in. * The game's logo is partially different from the logo seen in the final game, as it uses a different font for the "Hit & Run" banner and the Simpsons are positioned differently. Bart is also absent from the early logo for some unknown reason. IGN (August 2003) On August 8 and August 23, 2003, IGN released 17 videos depicting the PlayStation 2 and GameCube revisions of the game. These range from snippets of gameplay to full cinematics, all from the first level. Of upmost interest are the prerendered cutscenes, some of which are noticeably different to the ones in the final game. Opening Cutscene * The Simpsons logo has different lettering as opposed to the final which resembles the one used on the show. The trademark symbol was swapped for a copyright. * The family's models are very similar to their appearances in the cutscenes from The Simpsons: Road Rage rather than the softer renditions used in the final game. * Homer gasps before destroying the wasp camera. * The wasp has additional sound effects on its demise. Flowers By Irene * Homer is seen eating a donut he reached from his back, whereas in the final version he is sitting still and drinking a Duff Beer. Despite this, the sound heard when he eats the donut in the early cutscene can still be heard in the final cutscene at the same time. * The TV is zoomed in, as opposed to the final in which the knobs and grill are visible. * Much like the Simpsons family in the previous cinematic, Kent Brockman and Mayor Quimby resemble their appearances from Road Rage. * The illustrations Brockman is describing are slightly different, featuring additional elements and different gradients. * The crowd attending Mayor Quimby's speech is much quiet in the early render. * The "exclusive footage" of the Black Van were removed along with the robot being eaten by an alligator. * A music cue plays when Marge tells Homer he is sexy (when he's paranoid). Worth Playing Published on August 31, 2003, Worth Playing's coverage of Hit & Run is perhaps the most interesting, as it features a wealth of self-produced screenshots from the PlayStation 2 version, some of which show discrepancies not seen in the previous materials. Referred as a "limited beta copy", this particular demo allegedly includes a "character select screen" with a limited roster and not much else. Mission Briefing * The comic strip panel was replaced with pictograms illustrating the objectives. * The font was squished and resized. Phone Booth * "Stability" was changed to "Handling" in the vehicle stats layout. * The font was squished and resized. NPC Icons The gallery also reveals that the characters were displayed on the interface as 3D renders rather than 2D sprites. GameSpot (September 2003) Published on September 5, 2003, GameSpot's coverage of both the Xbox and Playstation 2 version comes with little info and very low quality JPEG images. Images * The unused vehicle "WagonA" can be seen in this shot. * This contains another early image for a mission (This Old Shanty), however this time the font is the same as it is in the final game. * Almost identical to one of the pictures from "Worth Playing" except with the final font. Other things of note * The article says to start a Wager Race by talking to Fat Tony, however in the final, the player talks to Louie instead. This was most likely a mistake however. * The article makes a reference to the scene from the E3 version of the "Flowers by Irene" cutscene where Kent Brockman shows a clip of a robot being eaten by an alligator. Commercial G7fWBWgrZTw While pretty much resembling the final version, there is one thing noticeable in the trailer. * While the 3D rendered character portrait for Marge appears at the start, there is another early 2D mugshot of Marge, which differs from the final version. However, it only appears once in the commercial, as the final Marge mugshot is used throughout. Manual Present in the manual for the PlayStation 2 (and the Xbox, to some extent) releases are a few not-quite-final screenshots displaying more of the 3D rendered character portraits. Please note that the last picture only appears in the former, as the latter uses an updated picture with the actual 2D mugshot. A date on the Load Game menu detailed on one of the first pages suggests that these pictures might be from late July/early August 2003 There is also a screenshot showing an early version of the radar. The title screen also appears to use Homer's Road Rage model. The model can be found in the files for the main menu in the final game. The text that appears when the player gets a Hit & Run also appears to be different, being in all caps and in a slightly different font. The radar also appears to be a lighter colour around the edge and the road is white instead of grey. The same changes apply to this screenshot. Prerelease Disc Assets Two prerelease asset discs of the game were found in 2016, which contained several information changed in the final game, dated around June to August 2003 as well as concept arts and artworks of the characters, vehicles and locations. There are several pink notes regarding editing out or correcting some parts or red notes indicating changes. Storyline Changes * Originally, the newspapers displayed on the loading screen of each level contained a second variation instead of one. Some actually went through slight changes. ** Level 1's second headline was "First Day of Spring - Ants, Nitpickers reach last minute accord" along with a screenshot from "Trilogy of Error". ** Level 2's original first headline was either "Nameless Assailant Harasses Burns - Says Burns" or "Local Man Chased By Dogs - Mistakes Harmless Pizza Van for Sinister Surveillance Van". ** Level 3's original headlines were "Slow News Day Grips Springfield" and "Local Truant Gone Truant - Honor Student Searches for Dumber Brother". ** Level 4's headlines were "Mysterious Shape Found In Farmer's Field - Scientists Perplexed; Some Say Signs Of Rapture - Flights Booked", which was later shortened down, and "Missing Boy Found Safe - Has No Memory of Abduction". ** Level 5's original headlines were "Springfield Goes Crazy for Crazy New Cola" and "Boring Housewife Unpopular - Marge Simpson Attacks Another Fun Fad". ** Level 6's original headline was "Local Crackpots Warn of "Alien Cola Plot"" with a picture of Apu and Bart shocked. ** Level 7's original headline was "Local Housewife Says "I Told You So"" with a picture of Marge. Mission Changes * Bonus missions did not exist originally, as the only two bonus missions that did exist during development were "Dial B for Blood" and "Princi-Pal", which were both part of the storyline. * "Petty Theft Homer" had an unused lose-the-tail segment. * "The Fat and Furious" originally involved driving to the Power Plant's parking lot to find Smithers, who was parked next to a Surveillance Van. Homer was also supposed to jump over the gates of Mr. Burns' Mansion to talk to Mr. Burns upon arriving. This could indicate that the mansion was originally accessible in the first level at some point. * "Detention Deficit Disorder" originally involved avoiding the cops as well as Principal Skinner. * Originally, Bart needed a toilet plunger instead of a satellite dish and hemorrhoid cream for the Truckasaurus. The plot in "Dial B for Blood" was also used in the mission "Bart 'n' Frink" in order to get the cream. Additionally, the mission didn't involve Bart having to race Snake either. * In "Cell-Outs", Professor Frink was meant to accompany the player in his Hover Car when destroying the cell phone user cars. * There was originally a mission where Bart escaped in the Ferrini from the Truckasaurus in a boss fight. * "Nerd Race Queen" would've involved racing more then just one Nerd Car to the Itchy & Scratchy store. * "Bonfire of the Manatees" originally ended with Apu talking to Lisa and the latter making her own way to the Observatory. * "Operation Hellfish" did not exist originally, as the mission "Princi-Pal" took its place as Level 3's fourth mission. * "For A Few Donuts More" involved destroying the Donut Truck. The mission stage dialogue still exists for this in the script. * "Return of the Nearly-Dead" involved racing Grampa to the Retirement Castle, instead of Chief Wiggum. The mission would've also not started at the cemetery. * "Wolves Stole My Pills" was given by Jasper originally and involved him explaining the crop circle. In the files of the game, there exists an unused piece of stage dialogue that says "Talk to Jasper" which is a possible leftover from this. * "Incriminating Caffeine" took place near the Monorail Station and involved avoiding black sedans while chasing the Cola Truck. * The summary in "Eight is Too Much" was much different originally. Instead of the octuplets about to make the hospital's waiting room dirty. Apu's wife, Manjula, would've come to collect the octuplets from the hospital, and Apu was supposed to collect 8 packages of diapers instead of collecting them from a Shelbyvillian Van. * "This Little Piggy" did not exist originally, as a mission that involved Apu destroying a Cola Truck after a brief conversation with the mobsters took its place. * "Curious Curator" involved racing the Curator to the museum instead of destroying it. The mission stage dialogue for this early mission design still exists in the script. It also may have involved Apu and Bart driving in separate vehicles. * Much like Truckasaurus in Level 2, the T-Rex Fossil in the Level 5 cutscene was originally a boss fight in addition to a cutscene. * "Going to the Lu'" was a completely different mission as it didn't involve Bart and Otto taking kids to Krustylu Studios in the School Bus. Instead, Bart would've drove to the studios alone while avoiding black sedans. * Originally, in "Getting Down with the Clown", Milhouse was the one who told Bart that Krusty's Limo was leaving to pick up Krusty instead of Barney. * Duff for Me, Duff for You" involved avoiding black sedans while heading for the Duff Brewery. Also, the lasers weren't originally held in Duff Trucks, as Bart only had to collect one laser. * "Kang and Kodos Strike Back" was entirely different. Originally, Homer and Bart were meant to fight against Truckasaurus in a boss battle at the Duff Brewery with the Ferrini - Red. * In "Long Black Probes", the aliens were said to have blocked-off Evergreen Terrace from the rest of the map. * "Pocket Protector" involved avoiding zombie vehicles (possibly the Zombie Cars) while heading for the school playground with the nuclear waste. * Originally, in "Alien "Auto"topsy Part I", Mr. Burns sold the remaining nuclear waste to the Black Ferrini driver. Homer was also meant to look around Springfield for the nuclear waste instead of collecting it at the power plant while the Black Ferrini and Zombie Cars try to take him out. * "Alien "Auto"topsy Part II" originally featured Comic Book Guy with the Kremlin instead of Snake and the Bandit. * The final cutscene of Level 7 was much different - When the UFO crashed, a tentacle came out of the hatch, before shriveling up, with Homer mocking Lisa's belief of nuclear waste. It then cut to Kent Brockman interviewing Homer, who tells him he has "big plans" for the future. Two weeks later, Homer's house is surrounded by Rigelians, some of whom are stealing from the house, while he naps. Miscellaneous Changes * There was originally an option to watch the credits in the Options menu. * The HUD icons for characters were originally in the same CGI seen in manuals. Category:The Simpsons: Hit & Run